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Gardening

Squirrels digging up lawn

(11 Posts)
susytish Wed 28-Sep-22 13:40:25

I might have put this on before, but here goes. You know how we get!
Am being driven mad by squirrels digging holes in my lawn. It looks like a battlefield. I spend every day chasing them off. Have tried just about everything I looked up, even a water pistol. They just look at me as if I am mad. They are probably right!. I used to shoo the pigeons away but now greet them like friends, compared to the pesky squirrels!

Oopsadaisy1 Wed 28-Sep-22 13:56:46

They aren’t digging , bless them, they are probably planting.
If your garden is like mine I will have about 20 or 30 new Walnut trees growing in the lawn, flower pots, shingle driveway.
If you rummage under the holes you might find what they are planting or possibly another squirrel has found some nuts planted last year and is retrieving them?
Don’t you just love them? ?

susytish Wed 28-Sep-22 14:19:38

I used to love them! I know they are digging to plant their acorns, etc. It is just such a mess, holes all over. Doesn't help to have 2 massive oak trees at the back of us!

Esspee Wed 28-Sep-22 14:45:43

I have rehomed 3 squirrels in the last couple of weeks as they had dug up all my crocosmia/montbretia (except the variety lucifer) and devoured them.
You can buy a humane trap and follow my example. (Though I have to admit I worry about whether they have found their friends who were released at the same spot.)

Esspee Mon 03-Oct-22 09:01:25

Make that 4.

NotSpaghetti Mon 03-Oct-22 09:03:42

Why is the lawn so important?
Surely they will stop when they have finished "storing"?

nanna8 Mon 03-Oct-22 09:05:17

Swap you for our pesky possums that crash around after dark, make disgusting noises and eat every single vegetable I plant. They even get under the nets designed to keep them off. Beasties!

Esspee Mon 03-Oct-22 09:16:30

I'm not bothered bout my lawn. Grey squirrels have almost extirpated my crocosmia/montbretia with the exception of the variety lucifer which must taste different. They have tunnelled under my Begonias to get at bulbs underneath, they throw mounds of earth onto my gravel, litter the paths, table, chairs and waterfall with the stems and outer skin of the crocosmia and if they manage to get into my attic they could do thousands of pounds worth of damage and even cause a fire if they chew through the electrical cables.

Squirrels are a menace which is why they can be treated as vermin and killed.
I simply relocate them. They're lucky.

Esspee Mon 03-Oct-22 09:20:09

nanna8

Swap you for our pesky possums that crash around after dark, make disgusting noises and eat every single vegetable I plant. They even get under the nets designed to keep them off. Beasties!

You have my sympathy. The first time I saw a possum looking in my window in the dark (in NZ) I froze in horror.
Hideous looking creatures. ?

Nell8 Mon 03-Oct-22 09:57:43

I've just googled the problem and found an article "How to keep squirrels out of your garden" on www.rspca.org.uk
Although it's ok to use a humane trap apparently it's now illegal to release the blighters elsewhere without a licence and they should be humanely killed. It sounds like an expensive exercise if professional help is needed.

LucyLocket55 Mon 03-Oct-22 11:07:44

I was recommended to use Chili powder, the hot stuff, on my tulip pots to stop the squirrels digging up my bulbs.